The Maroons track and field squads hit the road running this weekend for the annual Chicagoland Indoor Championships hosted by North Central College. The meet will welcome in teams from all Divisions, producing an incredibly competitive environment.
The women’s team looks to become back to back Chicagoland Champions as they took home first place last year while winning five events. The men also represented with two third-place finishes en route to sixth place overall.
The Maroons’ success thus far this season bodes well for their potential this weekend. This past meet, both teams found themselves at the top of the podium. The meet was highlighted by multiple broken school records across the board. Success continued to come from all different ages with the first-year class continuing to shine with four of the women winning their event.
Fourth-year Eleanor Kang sees the potential for success this weekend considering how well the team has been competing recently. "Chicagoland is always a fun meet for us because there’s a lot of great competition there. We’ve been competing very well and at a high level these past couple of weeks,” said Kang. “People are getting new personal bests left and right, and a couple of school records have been broken, already. Given the competition at Chicagoland and how people have been performing, I’m expecting some great performances and am excited to see what we can do this week!"
With only two meets left before UAAs, the Maroons prepare for the homestretch of the regular indoor season. The squad is eager to match up against quality talent this weekend. The opponents at this meet will be representative of the competition they will face in the conference meet, allowing a clear look at where the team stacks up. The South Siders are looking to continue to improve and push one another to be at their best.
Fourth-year thrower Andrew Maneval sees this weekend as an opportunity to see how the team matches up against quality opponents. “The Chicagoland meet is one of the bigger meets we go to each year, and it’s really helpful to face such great competition as we get closer to the UAA meet in a couple of weeks,” said Maneval. “In this meet we really just want to be able to produce times/marks that will set us up to compete well at conference.”
A lot of the Maroons success this season can be attributed to the team’s chemistry. Though not quantifiable, it’s clear to every member of the team. The support and cohesiveness has been key to pushing each other to their greatest heights.
“The team as a whole is really coming together in a great way. It was great last weekend to see great performances from different event groups and from teammates of all ages,” said Maneval. “We hope to carry this success into the big meets coming up.”
The women will lace up at North Central on Friday beginning at 3:30 p.m., whereas the men will make the trip Saturday with a start time of 10:30 a.m.
